The Web Standards Project (WaSP) has been busy at work hatching the InterACT curriculum, a framework for teaching standards based web design and development intended for schools, universities and business.

Education is core to getting the web to pull it’s socks up and become more of an inclusive, cross browser, cross platform, cross device place. By creating a curriculum and web craft degree backed by both industry and educators, the Open Web Education Alliance (OWEA) hopes to help produce the graduates that employers need to build slick, usable, accessible and profitable websites.

Up to this point all the work in OWEA and WaSP InterAct has been voluntary contributed to by some of the best web designers and developers out there today. To get this initiative really off the ground however we need to put in some serious hours and to do that OWEA needs funding. (Disclaimer: I’m hoping to be the one to put in the serious hours).

This is where you come in

We’re applying for a grant from the Shuttleworth Foundation and would love to show them how well backed this initiative is by our community. So, if you care about a sustainable web then take two minutes to show your support by signing up to The Open Web Education Alliance project funding bid. We need comments, contributors and votes!

While you’re at it you may also want to get Introducing HTML 5 by Bruce Lawson and Remy Sharp. It’s out in July so it’ll be a nice little surprise when it drops through the letter box in a months time.

Having recruitment process where dev’s can be hired on the basis of having covered the curriculum would be good. If it’s taught in schools and colleges that’s one thing but an idea I’ve been toying with is that graduate recruitment schemes embed it and organisations with induction programs include it. We can but hope…